“an art house movie”: Elvis Mitchell, “ ‘Chocolat’: Candy Power Comes to Town,” New York Times, 12/15/00.
“Factory sealed to preserve”: Lisa Schwarzbaum, review, Entertainment Weekly, 1/16/02.
“Apparently Harvey went crazy” and following: Schwarzbaum, AI, 3/20/02.
“It was really hard”: John Penotti, AI, 4/15/02.
“Talk about a movie”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/18/02.
“but the Miramax guys”: Penotti, AI, 4/15/02.
“Financially, the cinemas”: Confidential source.
“Subsequently, Kleeman had”: “Clips,” Hollywood Reporter, 8/22–24/03.
“Bob is considered”: Confidential source.
“When Bob is good”: Barbara Maltby, AI, 6/16/03.
“We do not feel” and following: Nelson, AI, 10/4/01.
“I could smell” and following: Eric Gitter, AI, 10/9/01.
“I’m in a position to try”: Haynes, AI, 3/23/02.
“He was riding almost exclusively” and following: Haynes, AI, 3/23/02.
Dimension’s contribution to the Miramax bottom line: Daily Variety, 10/30/01.
“They didn’t talk”: Confidential source.
“You never give a shit” and following: Confidential source.
“Harvey was pissed” and following: Kevin Smith, AI, 12/18/01.
“Harvey cried” and following: Konrad, AI, 6/7/02.
“They showed me a shadow cut” and following: Mangold, AI, 6/7/02.
“You sit there going”: Kevin Smith, AI, 12/18/01.
“Kate & Leopold is the kind”: Rudin, AI, 8/7/02.
“The problem is that”: Confidential source.
“So your movie comes out”: Konrad, AI, 6/7/02.
CHAPTER 14: GODS AND MONSTERS
Epigraph: Tykwer, AI, 7/13/03.
“He didn’t really give a shit” and following: Fisher Stevens, AI, 6/23/02.
“Going with Miramax”: Hope, AI, 7/19/02.
“What are you”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/18/02.
“You could see Todd” and following: Hope, AI, 7/19/02.
“Everyone had seen” and following: Confidential source.
“I let Miramax know”: Todd Field, AI, nd.
“The relationship was tenuous”: Stevens, AI, 6/23/02.
“I decided against it”: Field, AI, nd.
“Some academy members”: Tom O’Neil, www.GoldDerby.com.
“We kicked the fat”: Ray, AI, 8/7/02.
“We kicked Miramax’s”: Bill Higgins, Variety, 1/21/02.
“Did you say” and following: Ray, AI, 8/7/02.
“He’s somebody on my”: Confidential source.
“You’re going to go down”: Stacey Snider, AI, 4/26/02; Auletta, “Beauty and the Beast.”
“He was yelling”: Snider, AI, 4/26/02.
“I never raised”: Auletta, “Beauty and the Beast.”
“It was the second”: Confidential source.
“There were two things”: Snider, AI, 4/26/02.
“lashed out” and following: Craig Offinan, “Diller Defends Viv U Chief Messier, stox,” Variety, 5/13/02.
“You can’t work”: Auletta, “Beauty and the Beast.”
“And I’m sick of you”: Confidential source.
“The relationship is 80 percent”: Confidential source.
“I have great fondness”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 4/11/03.
“When A Beautiful Mind opened”: Confidential source.
“works very hard”: Safford, AI, 9/29/98.
“Harvey never roots”: Matthew Hiltzik, AI, nd.
“Our hands were”: Gill, AI, 6/4/02.
“It’s Scapegoat 101”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/18/02.
“I was put on” and following: Confidential source.
“It was all”: Gill, AI, 6/4/02.
“I wouldn’t call it”: Ben Kaplan, “Action Painting,” New York, 9/9/02.
“There is a kind of strange”: Mangold, AI, 6/10/02.
“The morning after”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 4/11/03.
“Hello, darling. You look”: Nikki Finke, salon.com, 3/28/02.
“It was a setup”: Confidential source.
“Scott delivered for Steven”: Vachon, AI, 6/10/03.
“I’m gonna lose my job” and following: Haynes, AI, 6/13/03.
“That may well have”: Michael Jackson, AI, 10/27/03.
“What’s going on”: Vachon, AI, 6/10/03.
“It felt amazing because”: Haynes, AI, 6/13/03.
“The only person”: Vachon, AI, 6/10/03.
“This is suicide”: Confidential source.
“You can come in” and following: Snider, AI, 10/21/03.
“My position was”: Diller, AI, 10/28/03.
“Cut it whatever way”: Schamus, AI, 4/30/03.
“It’s nice to feel that”: Hope, AI, 7/19/02.
“Is it rational”: Penotti, AI, 4/15/02.
“a movie that could be”: Elvis Mitchell, review, New York Times, 12/6/02.
According to a fall 2002 New York Times article: Laura M. Holson and Rick Lyman, “Miramax’s Big Screen Test,” New York Times, 11/4/02.
“They’re like Mafia dons”: Gill, AI, 2/11/03.
“vote with their feet”: Gigliotti, AI, 6/10/01.
“Given who Harvey was”: Russell, AI, 10/25/02.
“Harvey does both”: Mangold, AI, 6/7/02.
“Harvey sends me” and following: Vachon, AI, 6/10/03.
“Why’d you call me”: Auletta, “Beauty and the Beast.”
“I think the behavior”: Rudin, AI, 8/7/02.
“He’s done one”: Confidential source.
“In Hollywood, everyone’s” and following: Elwes, AI, 5/1/03.
“Agents are the people”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 8/9/02.
“just beat the shit”: Confidential source.
“Jeffrey is psychotically”: Confidential source.
“I thought because it was” and following: Lee, AI, 11/8/02.
“If you don’t sell me” and following: Rudin, AI, 8/7/02.
“That’s complete bullshit”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/18/02.
“Thanks for all the help” and following: Confidential source.
“Filmmakers like Minghella”: Gill, AI, 10/23/02.
“Anthony said”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/18/02.
“He’s getting a divorce”: Confidential source.
“When Harvey finally did decide”: Pollack, AI, 6/1/02.
“It’s best to keep”: Russell Crowe, AI, 9/4/03.
“We’ve never had”: Snider, AI, 10/21/03.
“If you’re not careful”: Confidential source.
“There’s no such thing”: Gill, AI, 2/11/03.
“We were seduced”: Confidential source.
“They’re in financial trouble” and following: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 4/11/03.
“I’m sure at the back”: Elwes, AI, 5/1/03.
“They of course audit”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 4/11/03.
“That’s crossing the line”: Confidential source. See also Paul Tharp, “Big Trouble at Disney—Weinstein Weighs Split as Feud Grows,” New York Post, 3/4/03.
“Both Matty and Ben” and following: Kevin Smith, AI, 5/26/03.
“When I first came”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 8/9/02.
“It’s tough for Harvey” and following: Kevin Smith, AI, 5/26/03.
“Ordinarily, I don’t” and following: Smith, AI, 8/19/03.
“Harvey’s a twisted”: Shestack, AI, 10/20/03.
“Look, man, Disney” and following: Smith, AI, 8/19/03.
“Kevin said, ‘I feel’ ”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 11/11/03.
“Ben was like”: Shestock, AI, 10/20/03.
“Who do you”: Smith, AI, 5/26/03.
“After the first”: Tykwer, AI, 7/13/03.
“The smaller, more interesting”: Rudin, AI, 8/7/02.
“They’ve really ceded”: Elwes, AI, 5/1/03.
&nbs
p; “As we turned” and following: Philip Noyce, AI, 10/17/03.
“People have put”: Mickey Cottrell, AI, 9/22/03.
“I will not”: Noyce, AI, 10/17/03.
“We had a horrible”: Cottrell, AI, 9/22/03.
“The film could only”: Noyce, AI, 10/17/03.
“It should have”: Cottrell, AI, 4/22/03.
“Harvey is a tough”: Noyce, AI, 10/17/03.
“Everybody knew the script”: Gill, AI, 2/11/03.
“The feeling at Miramax”: Parfitt, AI, 6/17/03.
“They talked themselves”: Gill, AI, 2/11/03.
“Graham King had nowhere else”: Confidential source.
“If the budget spirals”: Elwes, AI, 5/1/03.
“I had more input”: Harvey Weinstein, AI, 4/11/03.
“tormented”: Confidential source.
“Back off and don’t”: Confidential source.
“Harvey made his way” and following: Haynes, AI, 6/13/03.
“a kindly, lovable, gentle man”: Rick Lyman, “ ‘Chicago’ a Big Winner at Golden Globe Awards,” New York Times, 1/20/03.
“I think it cost”: Rudin, AI, 3/4/03.
“They’re coached”: Confidential source.
“I marvel at Harvey Weinstein’s ability”: Confidential source.
Already chafing at: Rick Lyman, “ ‘Chicago’ Is a Hit After Feuds,” New York Times, 3/19/03.
“rapist” and “child molester”: Confidential sources.
“Harvey made two mistakes”: Schamus, AI, 4/30/03.
POSTSCRIPT: THE SWEET HEREAFTER
“Miramax has been great”: Lee, AI, 11/8/02.
“I don’t think Miramax”: Rudin, AI, 8/7/02.
“The independent film movement”: Soderbergh, AI, 5/2/02.
“Sydney Pollack and I”: Minghella, AI, 11/1/01.
“The whole thing that’s happening”: Charlie LeDuff, “Box Office He Wants, Not a Drink,” Los Angeles Times, 12/15/02.
“It’s getting harder”: “10 Questions for John Sayles,”New York Times, 10/23/03.
“Even on the indie level” and following: Hawke, AI, 10/28/02.
“As the last ten years”: Sayles, AI, 7/9/97.
“Most of the ’70s guys” and following: Schamus, AI, 3/4/99.
“An independent filmmaker”: Kevin Smith, AI, 12/18/01.
“Once you proved”: Linklater, AI, 3/12/01.
“If you’re an”: Van Wagenen, AI, 10/22/03.
“ongoing support for”: Satter, AI, 7/25/03.
“Now that Miramax”: Elwes, AI, 5/1/03.
“We are not a cultural temple”: John Horn, “Safer Movies, Less Moxie at New Line,” Los Angeles Times, 12/9/02.
“When I started”: Hope, AI, 10/15/03.
“He’ll litigate” and following: Russell, AI, 10/25/02.
“have found money” and following: Lichter, AI, 10/31/03.
“It was fuckin’ ”: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
“This is such”: David Rooney, “The Battle of the Ban,” Variety, posted 10/1/03.
“I only wish”: Hope, AI, 10/15/03.
“The people who”: Cathy Dunkley, Dade Hayes, “The Last Picture Show?” Variety, posted 10/5/03.
“When I first”: Andy Seiler, “Small Guy May Fall to MPAA’s anti-Piracy Ban,” USA Today, 10/2/03.
“This is a real Karl”: Jean Smith, Devin Gordon, “Hollywood Family Feud,” Newsweek, 10/20/03.
“We talked to the IFP”: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
“I will go along”: David Romey, “Ben Triggers Niche Bitch,” Variety, nd.
“This should not”: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
“I found it weird”: Hope, AI, 10/15/03.
“I think Harvey”: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
“It’s Alex Yemen” and following: Bernard, AI, 10/23/03.
“Hey, your man’s” and following: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
“The consumer has”: Confidential source.
“If there is a villain,” Patrick Goldstein, “The Big Picture: Screeners: Behind the Ban,” Los Angeles Times, 10/7/03.
“This is your legacy”: Confidential source.
“Jack can go off”: Bernard, AI, 10/23/03.
“This ban [is] a grave threat”: Harvey Weinstein, Variety, 10/31/03.
“I gotta tell ya”: Ray, AI, 10/17/03.
Endnotes
1 “Ancillary markets”: video, DVD, television, cable, etc.
2 “Shortends”: The unexposed film left over after a portion of a reel is shot.
3 Service deals are a form of vanity distribution, in which the producers not only get no advance, they pay the costs of prints and advertising.
4 “Pay or play”: a director, actor, etc., is paid regardless of whether the movie is made or not.
5 “P&A”: Prints and advertising.
6 “Back end”: A percentage of the profits, if any, due after the film’s release.
7 “Gross participation”: a percentage of the distributor’s gross.
8 “Film elements”: the physical components of a movie, including picture, sound tracks, script, etc., as well as legal documents establishing the chain of ownership and various kinds of rights.
9 “T&E”: Travel and entertainment, i.e., expense account.
10 “First look deal”: In exchange for financial support, a production entity has the first crack at any project developed by a smaller production company, producer, director, actor, etc.
11 The $12.5 million cap was not as restrictive as it sounds, because if they had, say, $5 million in foreign presales, that would offset $5 million more from Disney and they could do a $17.5 million picture, or if they had $15 million in foreign, they could do a $27.5 million picture.
12 “Turnaround”: When a studio decides not to produce a project and instead sells it.
13 “Cards”: Movies are routinely test screened for audiences, who check boxes on preview cards. The top two boxes are most important: excellent or very good, and are distilled into a numerical score. Such screenings often include focus group sessions.
14 “Back end”: participation in the revenues generated from the distribution of the film.
15 National Research Group.
16 In the interest of full disclosure, I, too, have occasionally looked at early cuts of films—for the studios, not Miramax.
17 In exchange for its option on Shyamalan, Miramax got a piece of both movies. Belatedly, Disney realized that if the brothers were going to profit on those films, they were going to have to share the costs as well, although it’s not clear which fiscal year, 2001 or 2002, these costs were charged against.
18 “Screener”: Tapes or DVDs of the year’s movies sent to Academy members and other interested parties for their consideration.
19 Even though Payne had final cut on About Schmidt, New Line forced him to eliminate the opening sequence and add a happy ending, a replay of his experience with Miramax on Citizen Ruth. When the New Line version scored lower than Payne’s, he was allowed to go out with his director’s cut, but had the recut film tested better, Payne’s version would have been history.
Index
About Schmidt, 470, 478
Abramowitz, Richard, 97–98, 124
Academy Awards, 98–101, 148–49, 206–7, 267–69, 369–72, 392–93, 427–28, 439–42, 444–45, 467–69
See also Oscars
Affleck, Ben, 278–87, 308–12, 329–30, 345, 366, 376, 413, 414, 416, 419, 420, 421, 459–60, 466
Alambrista!, 15–16
Allen, Paul, 388–90
Allen, Woody, 195, 217
Allen & Co., 95, 98, 103, 116, 125, 185–87
All the Pretty Horses, 284, 311, 419–22, 430
Almereyda, Michael, 394
Almodóvar, Pedro, 105, 468
Altman, Robert, 139, 335, 414, 481
Ambersons, 23
Amelie, 432, 440, 441, 445
American Beauty, 323, 386, 392–93
American Dream, 105, 232
Americ
an Splendor, 482
Amini, Hossein, 245
Amnesty International, 44, 46
An Awfully Big Adventure, 203
Anders, Allison, 19, 21–22, 117–18, 122, 137–39, 175, 195, 217–22, 475
Andersen, Kurt, 410
Anderson, Brad, 320, 343–44
Anderson, Paul Thomas, 22, 292, 386, 489
Anderson, Wes, 21, 387
Animal Behavior, 76, 105, 111
Anniston, Jennifer, 470
Apartment Zero, 32
Apocalypse Now, 8, 276, 322
Apostle, The, 301–7, 324–25, 326, 350
Applegate, Christina, 444
Araki, Gregg, 21, 117–18, 126, 203, 475
Archerd, Army, 99
Armageddon, 308, 329, 386
Arndt, Stefan, 359
Aronofsky, Darren, 22, 319–20, 450, 472, 475
Arquette, Patricia, 210, 299
Arteta, Miguel, 387, 405
Artisan, 274, 320, 351, 361, 381, 387, 399, 480
Artists Management Group (AMG), 399–400
Assumption of the Virgin, The, 472
Atlantic Alliance, 353–54, 357, 392
At Play in the Fields of the Lord, 243
August, Bille, 57
Auletta, Ken, 467
Avary, Roger, 127–29, 167, 170–71, 206
Aviator, 466, 471
B, Beth, 107
Babenco, Hector, 243
Bad Santa, 3–4
Bagger Vance, see Legend of Bagger Vance, The
Baker, Dylan, 334, 336
Bale, Christian, 331, 450
Balk, Fairuza, 118
Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, The, 29
Banderas, Antonio, 221, 442
Barber, Jeremy, 320
Barker, Michael, 17–18, 24, 39, 43, 96, 123, 144, 179, 220, 267, 302, 359, 448–49, 483
Barrymore, Drew, 247, 265
Bartel, Paul, 17
Bazin, Andre, 127
Beals, Jennifer, 122, 315
Bean, Henry, 425
Beautiful Mind, A, 439–40, 445
Beer, Gary, 36–38, 85, 166, 204, 390
Before Sunrise, 473
Being John Malkovich, 385
Believer, The, 425, 473
Bender, Lawrence, 129, 136, 168, 281, 288, 309, 317
Bend It Like Beckham, 479
Benigni, Roberto, 360, 370
Benza, A. J., 410
Berg, Jeff, 237, 329
Berger, Albert, 33, 42, 79, 456
Berman, Shari Springer, 482
Bernard, Tom, 13, 17–18, 24, 30, 39, 43, 123, 144, 179, 302, 448–49, 482–83
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